A progressive look at US political, foreign policy, social, law and war-and-peace issues through the eyes of a slightly deranged ex-pat Yank writing from Canada.
Affiliated with www.LAProgressive.com and www.UKProgressive.com

Friday, September 5, 2008

This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama’s win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat’s primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively.

“It was kind of disgusting,” Lucille, who is part Aboriginal, said in a phone interview after admitting that she is frightened of being discovered telling folks in the “lower 48” about life near the North Pole.

Then, almost with a sigh, she added, “But that’s just Alaska.”

Racial and ethnic slurs may be “just Alaska” and, clearly, they are common, everyday chatter for Palin.

Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N’-Fetch-It, “darkie musical” swipe, people who know her say she refers regularly to Alaska’s aboriginal people as “Artic Arabs” – how efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description – as well as the more colourful “mukluks” along with the totally unimaginative “fucking Eskimo’s,” according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article.

But being openly racist is only the tip of the Palin iceberg. According to Alaskans interviewed for this article, she is also vindictive and mean. We’re talking Rove mean and Nixon vindictive.

No wonder the vast sea of white, cheering faces at the Republican Convention went wild for Sarah: They adore the type, it’s in their genetic code. So much for McCain’s pledge of a “high road” campaign; Palin is incapable of being part of one.

< –––– >

It’s not easy getting people in the 49th state to speak critically about Palin – especially people in Wasilla, where she was mayor. For one thing, with every journalist in the world calling, phone lines into Alaska have been mostly jammed since Friday; as often as not, a recording told me that “all circuits are busy” or numbers just wouldn’t ring. I should think a state that’s been made richer than God by oil could afford telephone lines and cell towers for everyone.

On a more practical level, many people in Alaska, and particularly Wasilla, are reluctant to speak or be quoted by name because they’re afraid of her as well as the state Republican Party machine. Apparently, the power elite are as mean as the winters.

“The GOP is kind of like organized crime up here,” an insurance agent in Anchorage who knows the Palin family, explained. “It’s corrupt and arrogant. They’re all rich because they do private sweetheart deals with the oil companies, and they can destroy anyone. And they will, if they have to.

“Once Palin became mayor,” he continued, “She became part of that inner circle.”

Like most other people interviewed, he didn’t want his name used out of fear of retribution. Maybe it’s the long winter nights where you don’t see the sun for months that makes people feel as if they’re under constant danger from “the authorities.” As I interviewed residents it began sounding as if living in Alaska controlled by the state Republican Party is like living in the old Soviet Union: See nothing that’s happening, say nothing offensive, and the political commissars leave you alone. But speak out and you get disappeared into a gulag north of the Arctic Circle for who-knows-how-long.

Alright, that’s an exaggeration brought on by my getting too little sleep and building too much anger as I worked this article. But there’s ample evidence of Palin’s vindictive willingness to destroy people she sees as opponents. Just ask the Wasilla town administrator she hired before firing him because he rebelled against the way Palin demanded he do his job, or the town librarian who refused to hold the book burning Walpurgisnach Mayor Palin demanded.

Ironically, Palin was pushed into hiring the administrator by the party poo-bah’s who helped get her elected after she got herself into trouble over a number of precipitous firings which gave rise to a recall campaign.

“People who fought her attempt to oust the librarian are on her enemies list to this day,” states Anne Kilkenny, a Wasilla resident and one of the few Alaskans willing to speak on-the-record, for attribution, about Palin. In fact, Kilkenny actually circulated an e-mail letter about Palin that was verified and printed by The Nation.

For good measure, Palin booted the Wasilla police chief from office because, she told a local newspaper, he “intimidated” her.

< –––– >

Sarah Palin drew early attention from state GOP apparatchiks when, during her first mayoral campaign, she ran on an anti-abortion platform. Normally, political parties do not get involved in Alaskan municipal elections because they are non-partisan. But once word of her extreme fringe evangelical views made its way to Juneau, the state capitol, state Republicans tossed some money behind her campaign.

Once in office, Palin set out to build a machine that chewed up anyone who got in her way. The good, Godly Christian turns out to be anything but.

“She's doesn’t like different opinions and she refuses to compromise,” Kilkenny notes. “When she was Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't hers. Worse, ideas weren't evaluated on their merits but on the basis of who proposed them.”

Sound familiar? Palin may well be Dick Cheney’s reincarnate.

Something else has a familiar Republican ring to it: Her tax policies, and a “refund surpluses but borrow for the future” attitude.

According to Kilkenny and others in Wasilla as well as Juneau, Palin reduced progressive property taxes for businesses while mayor and increased a regressive sales tax which even hits necessities such as food. The tax cuts she promoted in her St. Paul speech actually benefited large corporate property owners far more than they benefited residents. Indeed, Kilkenny insists that many Wasilla home owners actually saw their tax bill skyrocket to make up for the shortfall. Two other Wasillian’s with whom I spoke said property taxes on their modest, three bedroom homes rose during the Palin regime.

To an outsider, it would seem hard to do, but an oil-rich town with zero debt on the day she was inaugurated mayor was left saddled with $22-million of debt by the time she moved away to become governor – especially since nothing was spent on things such as improving the city’s infrastructure or building a much-needed sewage treatment plant. So what did Mayor Palin spend the taxpayer’s money on, if not fixing streets and scrubbing sewage?

For starters, she modelled her office. Several times over, as a matter of fact.

Then Palin spent $1-million on an unnecessary, new park that no one other than the contractors and Palin seemed to want. Next, Sarah doled out more than $15-million of taxpayer money for a sports complex that she shoved through even though the city did not own clear title to the land; now, seven years later, the matter is still in litigation and lawyer fees are said to be close to at least half of the original estimated price of the facility.

She also worked hard to get voters approval of a $5.5-million bond proposal for roads that could have been built without borrowing. Anchorage may not be the center of the financial universe but, like good Republicans everywhere, Sarah Palin knows how to please Alaskan bankers and bond dealers.

For good measure, she turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots.

< –––– >

En route to the governor’s igloo, Palin managed to land what Anne Kilkenny says is the plumb political appointment in the state: Chair of Alaska’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC), a $122,400 per year patronage slot with no real authority to do anything other than hold meetings. She took the job despite having no background in energy issues and, as it turned out, not liking the work.

“She hated the job,” an OGCC staff member who is not authorized to speak with the news media told me. “She hated the hours and she hated what little work there was to do. But she couldn’t figure out a way to get out of the thing without offending Gov. Murkowski” and the state Republican Party regulars, some of whom were pissed off they didn’t get appointed.

But ever the opportunist, Palin quickly concocted a way. First, she waged a campaign with the local news media claiming that the position was overpaid and should be abolished – despite the fact that she lobbied Murkowski hard to get it. Then, mounting what she saw as a white horse, Palin raised a cloud of dust by resigning from the OGCC and riding away with an undeserved reputation as a “reformer.”

But when a local reporter dared to suggest that the reformer Empress has no clothes, Palin tried to get her fired.

“She came at me like I was trying to steal her kids,” said the targeted reporter, who now works for an oil company in Anchorage. “I heard she had a wild temper and vicious mean streak but it’s nothing like you can imagine until she turns it on you.”

Not surprising since some of her high school classmates still openly call her “Sarah Barracuda,” Kilkenny insists.

Still, as a Republican Party hack Palin managed to get herself elected running under the false flag of a “reformer.”

And what did she bring to the job? No legislative experience other than a city council of a village of 5,000 people, which is smaller than some high schools in Chicago. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; after all, she needed to hire a city administrator to run Wasilla. No executive experience, except for almost being recalled as mayor. A philosophy of setting public policy based on one word: No.

And what has she done since winning the job?

According to Kilkenny, nothing. Well, nothing other than suggesting the state’s multi-multi-million dollar, oil-generated surplus be distributed to residents and finance future state needs by borrowing money. Gee, doesn’t that sound precisely what George Bush did with the surplus he inherited from Bill Clinton in 2001 and we all know in what great shape Bush’s economic policies left the nation.

It may explain why, when asked by reporters including me what she thought about Palin being picked to be McCain’s running mate, her mother-in-law replied with a sardonic, “What has Sarah done to qualify her to be vice president?” Of course, when the woman – said by many I spoke with to be well-respected in Wasilla – was running to succeed Palin as mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her so that may explain the family tension.

As Governor, Palin gave the legislature no direction and budget guidelines, according to the chair of a legislative committee. But then she staged a huge grandstand play of line-item vetoing countless projects, calling them pork. “They were restored because of public outcry and legislative action,” the aide said. “She vetoed them mostly because she had no idea what they were or why they were important.”

But it was enough to get the McCain, who is mostly unobservant of the world around him anyway, to think Palin has a reputation as being "anti-pork".

In fact, Juneau observers note that Palin kept her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork ladled out by indicted Sen. Ted Stevens. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be politically unwise to keep supporting it, these same insiders assert. Then, Palin fell back on her old habits and publicly humiliated him for pork-barrel politics.

As for being “ready on day one” to be commander in chief, despite the repeated public claims she’s made, the Alaska National Guard commander said that, “she has made no command decisions, other than sending some troops to help fight a few brush fires and march in parades at county fairs.”

< –––– >

“Palin is a conniving, manipulative, asshole,” someone who thinks these are positive traits in a governor told me, summing up Palin’s tenure in Alaska state and local politics.

“She’s a bigot, a racist and a liar,” is the more blunt assessment of Arnold Gerstheimer who lived in Alaska until two years ago and is now a businessman in Idaho.

“Juneau is a small town, everybody knows everyone else,” he adds. “These stories about what she calls blacks and Eskimos, well, anyone not white and good looking actually, were around long before she became a glint in John McCain’s rheumy eyes. Why do I know they’re true? Because everyone who isn’t aboriginal or Indian in Alaska talks that way.”

“Sambo beat the bitch” may be everyday language up in the bush. Whether it – and the outlook, politics and worldview Palin reflects when she says such things in public – should be part of a presidential campaign is another thing altogether. The comment says as much about McCain as it does about Palin, and it says a lot of things about Americans who overlook such statements (as well as her record) and vote anyway for McCain.

133 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Do not post garbage like this. You may be a writer, but you are no journalist. Yellow journalism such as this harms the liberal cause. It is sensationalist and no better than Fox News. Try getting a few sources, or better yet, just stop writing.

ummm...he did source the article in several parts of it. I also don't hear you complaining about "anonymous government sources say..." aka the New York Times. He gave several names in the article and withheld the names of people that asked him to do so.

So how does this compare to the Obama supporter shirt saying "Bros not Hos" or Michelle Obama wanting to "scratch Hillary Clinton's eyes out" or David Gergen saying on national TV Obama would "need a food taster if he had Hillary as VP? I am a former lifelong Dem, but this election has taught me what intellectually I knew all along-the positions may be different but the behaviors of the extremists on either side are equally bad.

This article is nothing more then a hit peace from the Obama campaign. I guess they are pulling out all the stops. Obama labeled Hillary a racist to win the nomination. Now they are trying to to do it to Governor Palin. Well we know better. The DNC really turned into a bunch of bigots trying to hold down women.

The McCain Palin aides have been researching libelous articles such as this, and verifying sources. You should think twice before you print lies. Hillary was an easy mark for you because her party had abandoned her, but Sarah has an army of devoted followers in both the Democratic and Republican party. Liars get their just rewards.

You're threading very dangerously on tabloid news. Unless you can provide credible sources, do not post trash like this. I am so tired of people like you giving liberals a bad name by intentionally stirring the racial pot. This is no better than the people who tried to spread the rumor about the "Whitey" comments supposedly made by Michelle Obama.

I disagree, this is excellent stuff. We need to get the word out, verify it, and get it into the MSM cycle. If she really did issue the quoted slur, as well as others in the past, the public has a right to know!

No, this is excellent stuff. We must get the word out and into the MSM cycle, and let the networks or papers verify it. If she did indeed issue that kind of slur, along with the others implied, the public has a right to know!

Great article. Not surprising, though. I would expect evangelicals to be hateful in every way possible. They are fake, their beliefs are fake, everything about them is fake. They are obsessed with image and beauty, and are unable to ever tell the truth.

Charley, is this your own reportage, or do you have a direct link to the source on this story? It's a really serious thing for Palin to say (and I'm no fan of hers). In order for people to get this, we need to know where it really came from. Can you tell us the circumstances? I mean this with the most respect... Thanks

SInce you don't have an email listed, I am writing this in the comments: Since you are from Milwaukee, I want to tell you about my book on the Fr. Groppi and the civil rights movement there, which is coming out in February from Harvard University Press. Check it out. I'd be interested in what you think...

Many leftists honestly believe that conservatives are just racists in disguise. I'm sure there's some truth to this, as there is also equal truth that many leftists detest Israel, are patently anti-Semitic and would like to see Israel (and Jews) destroyed.

That said, it is still impossible to verify if the charges in this article are true, no matter what the author (who insists that it is) says.

In this entire campaign, the person who should be MOST angry is Hillary Clinton, whom the press on both sides treated with comtempt and avoidance. From the deliberate teasing about her pants suits, to her weight, the press has been mean spirited and ugly to her. I think that Clinton has been surprisingly generous to the press in her own statements. They don't deserve it.

A self annointed progressive living in Toronto has the "inside scoop" on an overheard conversation in Alaska. All anonymously sourced, of course.

Except for "Lucille", the waitress. Seriously, how hard would it be to track down a waitress named "Lucille" in a small town in Alaska? surely, you've done that to confirm your "anonymous sources", haven't you?

I have to thank you and the rest of the left for heaping this criticism on Sarah Palin. Most of you also heaped criticism on Hillary Clinton. Sexist? oh no. Not the left.

I can tell a lot of lies are written in this article. Her husband Todd is of Eskimo ancestry. She is a reformer. She knows better than to make this comment: "Sambo beat the bitch." And I noticed you put that quote first and last in your article. How pathetic you guys are to target this woman like this. Are you that afraid? Saying that a "waitress" happened to hear Sarah Palin say this in a restaurant is like saying that "the killer was a black man, I heard him confess myself at a bar last night." How many times have we heard that one from high profile cases to find out later that the white husband, boyfriend, or acquaintance, or white mother, or white father are the murderers. Get some proof before making these accusations. What about a tape recording of her saying it, or better yet some video? Yeah, right, you don't have it. You guys did this with Hillary and Bill Clinton, infuriating the former President with "racist" accusations. And degrading Hillary every chance you could get. Now that everyone knows your tactics, the "Obama Heads," they know better. You will see a lot of women, and some men, crossing party lines in November. Obama has lost this election. He had a chance to pick Hillary as VP running mate, a woman who received 18 million votes. Can you blame the McCain for being courageous enough to get a qualified, beautiful, energetic, young woman VP running mate? No, you can't. That's why you guys are furious. Too bad you will have to eat "crow" this November. You deserve it.

I followed up a hunch and did some 'Google-ing' on a simple theory - that Sarah Palin's nomination for Republican Vice Presidential candidate did not come out of nowhere. That it was, in fact, a long-term project by a small team of determined, savvy political operators.

I was a bit surprised by what I found - and how easily and quickly I found it.

I hope someone is able to verify the info in this article.The thought of her being a heartbeat away from the presidency makes me physically ill and it should scare the hell out of all of us.I do know that she has extreme religious views and her church is sponsoring an upcoming ‘Pray away the Gay’ conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer. This comes from a recent AP article.

Dear Mr. James,You must get that waitress on tape..video tape if possible...and anyone else that you cited in your story...before they are neutralized by the very racist, mean-spirited machine that you are writing about..and quickly..this story is burning up the web.

I think we need to focus more on the established facts: that she lies about her record every chance she gets. She introduced herself to America with a lie about the "Bridge to Nowhere" (she was for it before she was against it.)

She lied about selling the governor's plane on eBay.

She took a town with no debt and let them huge debt. She hands out checks for votes while driving up debt...

This is EXACTLY four more years of Bush we're looking at here. People that say they are reformers, while doing the opposite.

And the fact that NOBODY is being allowed to interview her means the McCain campaign KNOWS she's a disaster waiting to happen if she's allowed to speak off-script.

ok, Charley:You know you have to verify this, somehow; there's enough on Palin now; if true, this election is over, but I don't want to spread this around if it's just like the photoshopped bikini shot of Palin.

Never mind this supposed waitress. For something like this to really stick, you'd have to have actual audio or video of Palin herself uttering the words. Anything short of that is just hearsay and has exactly zero chance of spreading beyond the comments sections of liberal blogs.

I'm from Alaska(born here, only left for a few years) and I would not be surprised by this. Most people here aren't racist, but many are. This is particularly true when it comes to natives. It's not true that "everyone who isn’t aboriginal or Indian in Alaska talks that way," but slurs like "muktuk" are far more acceptable than any other. I saw a big fight break out because somebody dropped the n bomb within the last year, so that's out there too.

I've read the other comments and as an Alaskan Dem who is passionately trying to thwart Sarah's VP bid, your posts aren't helping. I've lived up here 25 years and have a number of Valley friends (and regularly spend time in Wasilla). I've NEVER heard ANYONE make that claim about Sarah and believe me, we are ALL on the lookout for anything we can find against her. Hell, my bro-in-law is one of the leaders in Alaska Right-to-Life and has been in her inner circle. He wouldn't feel so passionate about a candidate with racist leanings.

Another reason I believe your article is a bunch of crap...you are clueless when it comes to our politics. Sarah Palin is hated by many of the hard-core long-time Republicans in this state. Some of them because she busted Randy Ruedrich, the Repub. Chair (which was a good thing) but many solid, non-corrupt "R" types hate her because she's a lot like Bush...she spews Conservative social issues yet does nothing to support them, she spews Conservative financial issues but drives up spending (and debt) in every office she's held.

Vindictive, mean and scary, yes. I did my own article on those issues...and that was coming from my own experiences and the experiences of my Alaskan contemporaries.

I think it's possible that you read Anne Kilkenny's published email and then made up the rest.

Who says he started writing at age 8. Looks like he hasn't even learned to get beyond crayons yet.

Wow! I guess one shouldn't be surprised at the the "move on.org"puke's and wanna-be's out there.

What unmitigated trash! I unlike "James" live in Alaska, and have read critical articles aboutMrs. Palin, but this is just beyondthe pale. What saddens me most is that it seems some people posting to this site actually believed this junk? Wow!

"Alright, that’s an exaggeration brought on by my getting too little sleep and building too much anger as I worked this article."

Right there you proved your bias and your inability to write an article that is in ANY way objective. REAL journalists get BOTH sides to the story. They interview the people on BOTH SIDES. They don't just try to dig up dirt from unsubstantiated sources like you did, to paint a one-sided libelous picture just to take down a candidate from a party you don't like.

This is beyond irresponsible journalism. This is what they used to call "yellow journalism" as a matter of fact.

While you are so busy getting riled up over the supposed Hitlerian tactics of the Alaskan Republicans, perhaps you could put some of your righteous outrage over towards the Democratic side, and do some REAL reporting on Obama's caucus fraud.

Here's a documentary that actually has VIDEO of NAMED SOURCES on the fraud:

http://wewillnotbesilenced2008.com/

"Journalists" like you make me ashamed that I am a registered Democrat.

I'd like to point something out... You correctly quoted Anne Kilkenny in this piece, but then go on plagiarize her email without attributing the words to their true author.

A couple of examples:

Kilkenny: "Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots."James: "...she turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots."Kilkenny: "She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign."

James: "Ironically, Palin was pushed into hiring the administrator by the party poo-bah’s [sic] who helped get her elected after she got herself into trouble over a number of precipitous firings which gave rise to a recall campaign."

(Yes, it's still plagiarism even if you stick in a an extra word or a synonym so that it's not *exactly* word-for-word. The sentence structure is identical.)

Kilkenny: "As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork."James: "As Governor, Palin gave the legislature no direction and budget guidelines ... But then she staged a huge grandstand play of line-item vetoing countless projects, calling them pork."

Regardless of whether or not the content of the piece is true or false, it's lazy writing, it's dishonest, and it's not cool.

You need some better sources than this. I'll give this one a few more hours to get blown out of the water by real journalists. Don't report hearsay, just because it fits your political agenda. You'll give real liberal media a bad name.

I cant believe anyone would be stupid enough to believe that article. It is ridiculous. What is wrong with this writer. If that is all that it takes to get published, I will pick some crap out of the blue and makeup a story too.

Look -- these anecdotal stories of Palin's drawbacks are cropping up more and more frequently from a pretty wide variety of sources, including people who have identified themselves despite the fact that they have a lot to lose whether the GOP ticket wins or not. I would think that responsible people, especially Republicans, would push their party to have her views examined objectively in the cold light of day. Instead, the McCain/Palin handlers have already pronounced all media as biased (though you can bet that doesn't include Fox) and have refused to let her talk to anyone but People Magazine, who plan a bio piece with no politics. I am not a knee-jerk Republican hater. More than a few of my friends are Republican. We live in California so this may not be representative, but while I think most of these friends at this point still intend to vote along party lines as usual, all of them have some doubts about her. It's really about examining where she's really coming from. Why descend into the typical name calling? Why not unite around the concept of getting to the actual facts? I think Republicans and Democrats alike would be very well served by that, both now and, especially for Republicans, in the long term.

This is what bothers me and I'm a Republican Christian who has very Conservative values. People today, whether Republican or Democrat, once they decide on their candidate of choice, will not question anything. Even though I'm Republican, I am truly not comfortable with the choice of Sarah Palin. Even if Conservatives feel that this is a liberal attack piece, do you not have enough curiosity and sense to at least explore some of the allegations to see if they are true? I have read and it has been reported that she did leave Wasilla $20 million in debt even though the residents voted for a huge sports complex. By the way, has anyone not caught on that she was most likely chosen because of her "oil connections"? Does anyone not question why she is willing to leave, for long periods of time, a precious baby with Down Syndrome, a 7 year old daughter and a 13 year old daughter and a 17year old daughter who is expecting a baby? The 17 year old girl did not need to be subjected to international scrutiny and tabloid fodder at this time in her life. Where are the Christians out there standing up for the children? I'm sorry, but any mom who could put herself ahead of her children is questionable.

Yea.... that's funny.... you are a "Moby". It's easy to see as your post degenerates into standard liberal talking points.

"Moby" you ask?

"moby" - An insidious and specialized type of left-wing troll who visits blogs and impersonates a conservative for the purpose of either spreading false rumors intended to sow dissension.

--------------------------------

Dixie Dawg Replies:

For your information, I am not a "Moby", troll or anything else that relates to your description. I just happen to be an open-minded Republican/Conservative who is willing to question the establishment. I happen to be a registered Republican, but after about 4 years of political/historical research, I am more Independent in nature. If a Republican questions anyone in his or her own party, you find something strange or wrong with that? Blind allegiance to anyone or any entity is what gets nations and people into deep trouble.

Blind allegiance makes no sense, whatsoever. I'm only commenting on what I have read, to include reports in the Anchorage Daily News. Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and Independents need to question and examine their candidates of choice. A presidential election is way too important to just accept everything at face value. Would you choose a doctor just based on what you read in the Yellow Pages? Or, would you ask around and attempt to find out his or her reputation in the medical community? Would you buy a car without test driving it or asking questions about gas mileage? No you wouldn't....and neither would I. So, you're willing to vote for someone based on what FOX or CNN tells you without digging a little deeper? Sorry, friend, but that's just plain stupid!

Hey, Charley, some of us conservatives believe a philosophy on public policy that involves saying "no" is EXACTLY what we want. Remember the words of Thomas Jefferson, that government is best which governs least. We want the government OUT of our lives. We want to keep more of our money and make more of our decisions for ourselves. We want an end to socialist and radical environmentalist views which inhibit the progress of free markets. And we want more of those beautiful big-box stores and parking lots, which represent real economic and technological progress and a beautiful array of dazzling choices for the consumer. Your ilk would prefer the government commands the economy and leaves us all living in the squalor of communist Cuba.

Another news flash, Charley, being anti-abortion is not an "extreme fringe evangelical view." Polls in recent years have shown the majority of people hold anti-abortion views. Why do you think an anti-abortion president like Bush won twice, and Clinton only won twice because Ross Perot stole votes away (Clinton never won a majority of the vote in either election). Roe vs. Wade is 1, maybe 2 votes away from being overturned. All I can say to that is thank God.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! What a great article! I'm going to link to it A LOT in all my progressive commenting, especially commenting to reich-wing trolls' comments that Palin is so "honest" and "refreshing" (*puke*)

The only thing that jars a bit is that she married a part-Eskimo - oh wait, I just googled him: he's only one-eighth Eskimo, and, of course he's good-looking; ok - now no contradictions at all in this important portrait of this horrible woman. I'm going to try to get this read all over America.

I find it hilarious that 90% of the people who had a problem with this because there weren't enough NAMES and SOURCES left comments "anonymously". Get a life. I wouldn't doubt that Palin is completely racist. She's Karl Rove's wetdream.

Sarah Palin is a train wreck waiting to happen. I'm an Obama supporter now but I don't dislike McCain. I truly dislike Governor Palin and I believe she is just another example of McCain's poor decision making and republican pandering which is why I will be voting democratic this year. Governor Palin was a horrible choice for VP. She sickens me!

In this tale, Sambo gives his colorful new clothes, shoes, and umbrella to four tigers so they will not eat him. Sambo recovers the clothes when the jealous, conceited tigers chase each other around a tree until they are reduced to a pool of delicious melted butter. Two tigers down, two to go.BTW. Sambo was a little Indian boy. Maybe the title should Racist, Sexist, Vindictive, Mean and ...... Ignorant.

Keep up the great reporting, Charley. We had to live through 8 long years of the Righties throwing EVERY accuasation they could at the Clintons - treason, murder, corruption, were daily conversation on Righty web-sites and even "respectable" media from the day the Clintons announced in 1992. Richard Mellon Scaife spent $2 million on his "ARKANSAS PROJECT", which in mentioning the word "Paula" led almost directly to the Clinton impeachment. Ken Starr spent $70 million - SEVENTY MILLION DOLLARS - investigating every SHADE of an accusation or allegation against the Clintons, RESIGNED as prosecutor, then came back.. and switched his FINANCIAL investigation to an INTERROGATION of WOMEN and their SEX LIVES. By the time it was over, EVERY WOMAN IN ARKANSAS who had ever met or talked with Bill Clinton DREADED getting on Starr's ghoulish prosecutors' hit list. So, today, Republicans toss out the "LIBEL" charge, for saying that Sarah Palin used racial slurs in her conversation?

They can JUST GO TO _____ the place they sadistically fantasize and dream of so much !

it's like i've been saying... politics is the only realm in america where we settle for pathetic. in sports, entertainment and business--we only admire and give devotion to the BEST. but when it comes to who's going to run the country, ACK pick anybody!

it's like watching a 7th grade basketball game. occasionally cute, but mostly you just want to yell at them. i can't believe america continues to settle for 7th graders as their nation's starting line-up.

(i'm also surprised that so many people wanted to see your sources. can they not see for themselves?)

Maybe, but I seriously doubt it. She is the governor of the State of Alaska and I doubt that you could get her to say that in public, even if Mike Wooten Tasered her first, too classy.

This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama�s win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat�s primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively.

�It was kind of disgusting,� Lucille, who is part Aboriginal, said in a phone interview after admitting that she is frightened of being discovered telling folks in the �lower 48� about life near the North Pole.

Actually, about 2,000 nautical miles from Anchorage to the North Pole. Anchorage is about 45 miles south of Wasilla.

Then, almost with a sigh, she added, �But that�s just Alaska.�

Racial and ethnic slurs may be �just Alaska� and, clearly, they are common, everyday chatter for Palin.

Really. Every day chatter? Ever spend a day with this lady? Know or interview anyone who has or does?

Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N�-Fetch-It, �darkie musical� swipe, people who know her say she refers regularly to Alaska�s aboriginal people as �Artic Arabs� � how efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description � as well as the more colourful �mukluks� along with the totally unimaginative �fucking Eskimo�s,� according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article.

Part Aboriginal? Where are we? Australia? New Zealand? Part Native, maybe. Part Aboriginal? Not in Alaska.

Sarah is married to an �Aboriginal�.

Just on the basis of that fact, it seems strange to me that she would utter a racial or any other kind of slur. She is far too aware of self, her image is far too important to her to be heard in Wasilla saying anything like this.

We all were the �Blue Eyed Arabs of the North� quite a few years ago, when we were getting our oil thing together. It goes with the (Alaska) jokes about �Happiness is 10,000 Texans headed south with an Okie under each arm.� Or �One of these days we are going to split her in half (Alaska) and then Texas will be the Third Largest State in the Union.� But, �Arctic Arabs�. Not in the parts of Alaska I hang out in. I have never heard the term and I�ve lived here for thirty years.

Mukluks? Are shoes. We don�t call our Native Brothers �Mukluks�, although in the spirit of fair play they sometimes call us �Gussuks�. Especially our cops. As for �F*****g Eskimos�. Probably, usually while somebody is drunk, sometimes, when everybody is drunk. Like any racial epithet they come up from time to time, not often, but from time to time. But for Governor Palin, not so much.

But being openly racist is only the tip of the Palin iceberg. According to Alaskans interviewed for this article, she is also vindictive and mean. We�re talking Rove mean and Nixon vindictive.

No wonder the vast sea of white, cheering faces at the Republican Convention went wild for Sarah: They adore the type, it�s in their genetic code. So much for McCain�s pledge of a �high road� campaign; Palin is incapable of being part of one.

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It�s not easy getting people in the 49th state to speak critically about Palin � especially people in Wasilla, where she was mayor. For one thing, with every journalist in the world calling, phone lines into Alaska have been mostly jammed since Friday; as often as not, a recording told me that �all circuits are busy� or numbers just wouldn�t ring. I should think a state that�s been made richer than God by oil could afford telephone lines and cell towers for everyone.

I�m sure you must have read, especially when you were doing your exhaustive research for this story that Governor Palin enjoys about an 80% approval rating amongst the people of this state. That might have something to do with not being able to find anybody in Wasilla who wants to bad mouth her. Aaaand, Wasilla is her home town, and for the most part we like some of our neighbors up here, and we especially like folks we go to church with, winter over with, see at school, at the Post Office and at the Grocery store. We are small town people and we like it. We are family to each other, we fight each others fires, we weep for each others children, we go to the basketball game and cheer for the other side. Even in Los Anchorage we feel ourselves to be part of small town America. It doesn�t surprise me that a ham headed journalism student from Toronto might have trouble getting an Alaskan to talk candidly to him about somebody most of us admire based on her integrity alone.

So, do you want to talk about telecommunications or governors? The Paragraph about not being able to get a telephone call into the State of Alaska is because the press is clogging the lines is Bullshit. It is an unvarnished lie.

On a more practical level, many people in Alaska, and particularly Wasilla, are reluctant to speak or be quoted by name because they�re afraid of her as well as the state Republican Party machine. Apparently, the power elite are as mean as the winters.

�The GOP is kind of like organized crime up here,� an insurance agent in Anchorage who knows the Palin family, explained. �It�s corrupt and arrogant. They�re all rich because they do private sweetheart deals with the oil companies, and they can destroy anyone. And they will, if they have to.

They tend to do a rather good job of destroying themselves, without any outside help at all.

�Once Palin became mayor,� he continued, �She became part of that inner circle.�

Like most other people interviewed, he didn�t want his name used out of fear of retribution. Maybe it�s the long winter nights where you don�t see the sun for months that makes people feel as if they�re under constant danger from �the authorities.� As I interviewed residents it began sounding as if living in Alaska controlled by the state Republican Party is like living in the old Soviet Union: See nothing that�s happening, say nothing offensive, and the political commissars leave you alone. But speak out and you get disappeared into a gulag north of the Arctic Circle for who-knows-how-long.

There is no �inner circle� and the notion that someone would get disappeared into a Gulag North of the Arctic Circle is pretty florid. Most of us up here are pretty outspoken, and the idea that the State Government either gives a shit about what we think or say, or could do anything about it is ludicrous. Christ I hope nobody tells Jim Hornaday (our mayor in the Cosmic Hamlet by the Sea) about this inner circle, it would be the end of us. We would never live it down.

Alright, that�s an exaggeration brought on by my getting too little sleep and building too much anger as I worked this article. But there�s ample evidence of Palin�s vindictive willingness to destroy people she sees as opponents. Just ask the Wasilla town administrator she hired before firing him because he rebelled against the way Palin demanded he do his job, or the town librarian who refused to hold the book burning Walpurgisnach Mayor Palin demanded.

City Administrators come and go up here, sort of like the seasons. By the way, try doing any job the way you want to do it, instead of the way your boss wants you to do it, and watch what happens.

As to burning books; not so much. I don�t think that there is any evidence in any record that any book was ever banned or burned. The question was asked of the Librarian, she said �no�, she would not remove books from the collection, which was the right thing to say. The librarian�s job was threatened, there was a public outcry, and Ms. Palin backed down. Nobody was tortured, Gulag�d , or disappeared.

Ironically, Palin was pushed into hiring the administrator by the party poo-bah�s who helped get her elected after she got herself into trouble over a number of precipitous firings which gave rise to a recall campaign.

I don�t think there was a �recall campaign�, more like a threat to start one.

�People who fought her attempt to oust the librarian are on her enemies list to this day,� states Anne Kilkenny, a Wasilla resident and one of the few Alaskans willing to speak on-the-record, for attribution, about Palin. In fact, Kilkenny actually circulated an e-mail letter about Palin that was verified and printed by The Nation.

For good measure, Palin booted the Wasilla police chief from office because, she told a local newspaper, he �intimidated� her.

You don�t hang around with cops much, do you?.

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Sarah Palin drew early attention from state GOP apparatchiks when, during her first mayoral campaign, she ran on an anti-abortion platform. Normally, political parties do not get involved in Alaskan municipal elections because they are non-partisan. But once word of her extreme fringe evangelical views made its way to Juneau, the state capitol, state Republicans tossed some money behind her campaign.

Wasilla is about 100% republican. Democrats can travel through, but they tend to do so in locked cars, kind of like the Ghetto. They are not allowed to live there. Everything is partisan there. I seriously doubt S. Palin campaigned on a �Right to Life platform�, because we don�t generally think about that as a municipal issue up here.

Once in office, Palin set out to build a machine that chewed up anyone who got in her way. The good, Godly Christian turns out to be anything but.

�She's doesn�t like different opinions and she refuses to compromise,� Kilkenny notes. �When she was Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't hers. Worse, ideas weren't evaluated on their merits but on the basis of who proposed them.�

Ms. Kilkenny (I don�t know her, but I have read her spiel), sounds like a pretty smart, pissed off female member of a small town community with a grudge. This happens a lot up here, exacerbated by the cold winters, which will give you cold spots in your brain. You really have to hate someone to go to all that trouble. And I wouldn�t want her to bite me.

Sound familiar? Palin may well be Dick Cheney�s reincarnate.

There is one significant difference between Dick Cheney and S. Palin; you won�t find her fingerprints on a torture memo or an aggressive interrogation procedure.

Something else has a familiar Republican ring to it: Her tax policies, and a �refund surpluses but borrow for the future� attitude.

According to Kilkenny and others in Wasilla as well as Juneau, Palin reduced progressive property taxes for businesses while mayor and increased a regressive sales tax which even hits necessities such as food. The tax cuts she promoted in her St. Paul speech actually benefited large corporate property owners far more than they benefited residents. Indeed, Kilkenny insists that many Wasilla home owners actually saw their tax bill skyrocket to make up for the shortfall. Two other Wasillian�s with whom I spoke said property taxes on their modest, three bedroom homes rose during the Palin regime.

I think you deliberately confuse her tax policies at the state level with her tax policies on the municipal level. Most of the State that has sales taxes also taxes food. It�s an issue that the anti-tax folks are up in arms about all the time. Rising property taxes are inevitable in the fastest growing city in the state. Gotta pay for those schools, drawing more people to settle, which brings more children, firemen, cops and city administrators, which drive the property taxes up. The larger share of tax policy is decided at the Borough (county) level, another set of politicians.

To an outsider, it would seem hard to do, but an oil-rich town with zero debt on the day she was inaugurated mayor was left saddled with $22-million of debt by the time she moved away to become governor � especially since nothing was spent on things such as improving the city�s infrastructure or building a much-needed sewage treatment plant. So what did Mayor Palin spend the taxpayer�s money on, if not fixing streets and scrubbing sewage?

For starters, she modelled her office. Several times over, as a matter of fact.

Then Palin spent $1-million on an unnecessary, new park that no one other than the contractors and Palin seemed to want. Next, Sarah doled out more than $15-million of taxpayer money for a sports complex that she shoved through even though the city did not own clear title to the land; now, seven years later, the matter is still in litigation and lawyer fees are said to be close to at least half of the original estimated price of the facility.

Let�s see, is a Park ever un-needed? Is a road not infrastructure? Bridges are as well. Sports Complexes are far more useable by �regular folks� than Opera Houses and

Museums of Modern Art, in small town Alaska. Most of us would rather see our kids play hockey than spend an evening listening to Verdi. There are great big chunks of Alaska that no one has clear title to. No one really knows where they are at. Ask the Court system about the Kotzebue courthouse�

She also worked hard to get voters approval of a $5.5-million bond proposal for roads that could have been built without borrowing. Anchorage may not be the center of the financial universe but, like good Republicans everywhere, Sarah Palin knows how to please Alaskan bankers and bond dealers.

Actually, Anchorage is the center of the financial universe in Alaska.

There is usually a �matching fund� requirement in most highway money, so bonds are frequently used to finance road construction.

For good measure, she turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots.

Most of settled Alaska is as described. I don�t think Ms. Palin is a strong enough witch to turn the whole town into a wasteland. In fact it was pretty much a wasteland before she got there.

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En route to the governor�s igloo, Palin managed to land what Anne Kilkenny says is the plumb political appointment in the state: Chair of Alaska�s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC), a $122,400 per year patronage slot with no real authority to do anything other than hold meetings. She took the job despite having no background in energy issues and, as it turned out, not liking the work.

Not the chair. A member, even the ethics watchdog, in which role she busted the Chair of the State Republican Party, Randy Rudreich, which is the real reason the Republicans all hate her. She quit because of all the ugly that flowed from the sewer, not because she couldn�t do the work.

�She hated the job,� an OGCC staff member who is not authorized to speak with the news media told me. �She hated the hours and she hated what little work there was to do. But she couldn�t figure out a way to get out of the thing without offending Gov. Murkowski� and the state Republican Party regulars, some of whom were pissed off they didn�t get appointed.

Couldn�t possibly offend Gov. Murkowski, too stupid.

But ever the opportunist, Palin quickly concocted a way. First, she waged a campaign with the local news media claiming that the position was overpaid and should be abolished � despite the fact that she lobbied Murkowski hard to get it. Then, mounting what she saw as a white horse, Palin raised a cloud of dust by resigning from the OGCC and riding away with an undeserved reputation as a �reformer.�

Bullshit, Bullshit, Bullshit

But when a local reporter dared to suggest that the reformer Empress has no clothes, Palin tried to get her fired.

�She came at me like I was trying to steal her kids,� said the targeted reporter, who now works for an oil company in Anchorage. �I heard she had a wild temper and vicious mean streak but it�s nothing like you can imagine until she turns it on you.�

Not surprising since some of her high school classmates still openly call her �Sarah Barracuda,� Kilkenny insists.

Hell, people openly call me all kinds of things. Ms. Kilkenny can too, if she wants.

Still, as a Republican Party hack Palin managed to get herself elected running under the false flag of a �reformer.�

Not so much a Party hack; see above. Busted guy who is still Chair of the Party for ethics violations. They (the Republican �establishment�) still hate her for that move. Mostly elected by the folks, most of the folks are still pretty happy with her.

And what did she bring to the job? No legislative experience other than a city council of a village of 5,000 people, which is smaller than some high schools in Chicago. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; after all, she needed to hire a city administrator to run Wasilla. No executive experience, except for almost being recalled as mayor. A philosophy of setting public policy based on one word: No.

There aren�t very many towns in Alaska with more than 5,000 folks in city limits.The city administrator was there before she got the job.Almost doesn�t count at all.

And what has she done since winning the job?

According to Kilkenny, nothing. Well, nothing other than suggesting the state�s multi-multi-million dollar, oil-generated surplus be distributed to residents and finance future state needs by borrowing money. Gee, doesn�t that sound precisely what George Bush did with the surplus he inherited from Bill Clinton in 2001 and we all know in what great shape Bush�s economic policies left the nation.

Some portion of the States Oil wealth is distributed to every man, woman, and child who is a resident of the state of Alaska. This year we will all get about $1200 extra to help diffray the high cost of heating fuel in our homes. The money comes as revenue from an investment program. No need to borrow money with all the revenue coming in.

It may explain why, when asked by reporters including me what she thought about Palin being picked to be McCain�s running mate, her mother-in-law replied with a sardonic, �What has Sarah done to qualify her to be vice president?� Of course, when the woman � said by many I spoke with to be well-respected in Wasilla � was running to succeed Palin as mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her so that may explain the family tension.

You talked to Palin�s Mother-in-law? You will shit too, if you eat regular. I would really like to see a transcript of that phone call. Or the notes. Her mother-in-law? Pu�lleeze. You sir, are such a liar you give me cramps in the bowels.

As Governor, Palin gave the legislature no direction and budget guidelines, according to the chair of a legislative committee. But then she staged a huge grandstand play of line-item vetoing countless projects, calling them pork. �They were restored because of public outcry and legislative action,� the aide said. �She vetoed them mostly because she had no idea what they were or why they were important.�

This was in her first term, No? Well, she would not have prepared a budget or fiscal guidance, because she was just elected. That would have been role of the outgoing governor, Frank Murkowski, who by the way enjoyed the lowest satisfaction/ approval rating of any Governor in the United States. She didn�t like all the capital projects, did not see them as appropriate in every case for the state to fund, so she vetoed them. Seems like that�s her job. If you really talked to anyone in the state legislature, especially from that committee, it was probably Senator Lyda Green. She hates Ms. Palin with a passion and would say anything to harm her.

But it was enough to get the McCain, who is mostly unobservant of the world around him anyway, to think Palin has a reputation as being "anti-pork".

In fact, Juneau observers note that Palin kept her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork ladled out by indicted Sen. Ted Stevens. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be politically unwise to keep supporting it, these same insiders assert. Then, Palin fell back on her old habits and publicly humiliated him for pork-barrel politics.

First there are two bridges. One Bridge would go to Gravina Island in Ketchikan, which is where the Ketchikan folks keep their airport. They think it would be nice to have a bridge out there. The other is from Anchorage to the Mat-Su Valley. It�s a real deal because so many people are commuting from the valley to work in Anchorage. By shortening the commute, there is a very real energy savings. They both became projects during the Murkowski administration. Since the Gravina Island Bridge is far away and unpopular, it is the Bridge to nowhere. The other Bridge is just like the one you drive over to get to work. We think that the other one is worthy, because just like you, we want to go to work. Oh and the ladeler in this case was Don young, who was Chair of the Transportation Committee in the House.

As for being �ready on day one� to be commander in chief, despite the repeated public claims she�s made, the Alaska National Guard commander said that, �she has made no command decisions, other than sending some troops to help fight a few brush fires and march in parades at county fairs.�

If you think these cats come out of some special womb that gives them instant �ready on day one� you are a real na�f. As well as a bullshit liar.

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�Palin is a conniving, manipulative, asshole,� someone who thinks these are positive traits in a governor told me, summing up Palin�s tenure in Alaska state and local politics.

I think you mischaracterize. I think you are the �conniving, manipulative, asshole� in this play. And I think you are a liar.

�She�s a bigot, a racist and a liar,� is the more blunt assessment of Arnold Gerstheimer who lived in Alaska until two years ago and is now a businessman in Idaho.

So where did Arn live? What business is he in? Another hater?

�Juneau is a small town, everybody knows everyone else,� he adds. �These stories about what she calls blacks and Eskimos, well, anyone not white and good looking actually, were around long before she became a glint in John McCain�s rheumy eyes. Why do I know they�re true? Because everyone who isn�t aboriginal or Indian in Alaska talks that way.�

There you go with your neo-colonialist asshole arrogance again. People up here do not use that term (aboriginal) when they describe themselves or the Alaska Native groups. By the way, my wife, a retired judge does not talk that way, nor do many of the other folks I am around on a regular basis. But, you have to make to �Facts� fit the �thesis�, don�t you. Otherwise you are just another bag of shit liar, trying to impress everyone with what a master journalist you are.

�Sambo beat the bitch� may be everyday language up in the bush. Whether it � and the outlook, politics and worldview Palin reflects when she says such things in public � should be part of a presidential campaign is another thing altogether. The comment says as much about McCain as it does about Palin, and it says a lot of things about Americans who overlook such statements (as well as her record) and vote anyway for McCain.

Well Charley, I am a liberal. I am a genetic liberal. Both my grand fathers were railroad men, both strong union guys. I could no more vote for Ms. Palin than I could fly. There is no chance I will vote for her in any future I can concoct in my arthritic old mind. But, I really hate to get this bullshit from friends who are also liberals, passed along as it were gospel. You are a lazy creep liar. You are one of the reasons that it will be so hard to put this country back together after Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden are elected. Come on up to Alaska and spend some time pervert. I�d like to meet you. And Fuck You and your miserable fucking life.POSTED BY CHARLEY JAMES - THE PROGRESSIVE CURMUDGEON AT 12:29 PM 69 COMMENTS

This woman is the devil! I've seen all of these allegations all over the internet. I applaud your article. The GOP runs on fear. Making people afraid cripples them into submission. This is what she knows how to do very well. Why do you think people will not give their names? FEAR.

People, I ask that you read as much as you can about Sara Palin and her record before slamming someone on speaking out against her. Why do people support her? What has she said in the last week that has given you hope for change in the country? Because she's a woman, mother, wife? It shouldn't be about that. We need someone who is SMART, not just a pit bull with lipstick!

I sincerely suspect, just by watching her eyes and listening very closely to what she is NOT being ALLOWED to say, that John McCain has made the worst possible decision in his life that he could have ever made. Sarah Palin is not going to like him and she is going to rise up against him and with it make sure she beings narrowmindedness, unethical actions and racist views into our lives like never before. The fact that Sarah Palin is not mainstream and is out of touch with the lifestyles of the majority of us is going to set us back culturally, spiritually, morally and most economically.

Doc Dave-See, that's funny. I'ma young person, and Obama has me interested in politics for the first time ever. In fact, almost everyone in my generation is actually interested in politics, for the first time in a long time (if any interest at all).

You know what turns me off? Someone with a source they won't name (which is the right of the journalist, to hide his sources from retribution) gets some slack because of it. From someone who goes by anonymous.

this doesn't sound real and until you can give us the waitress's name then, please just say not next time. Now all you idiots on here thinking this is Obama and his camp, get a life you mindless morons. Stop just going with whatever 30 second soundbite you hear. Half of you clowns don't even do any research. You just listen and fall in line with the GOP brainwash program. Obama don't have time to spread these stupid rumors and the fact that you guys think he is, just goes to prove the actual reason why you're mad at him. He's smarter than you, achieved more than you, aquired wealth why you're probably still livin with your momma's. How dare this black man try to become president. You repug morons need new talkin points. Mclame and moosewoman won't speak on the issues because if they do, they lose and they know it so they do this 3rd grade backstabbing crap and you wack repugs suck it up like a hooker workin overtime. Get a life and a mind of your own. MORONS

Ok, any grown and mature adult can decipher the bad from the good, the right from the wrong from this article just by the process of deduction. What everyone needs to realize or do is rely on your gut instinct. I'm neither Repub nor Dem totally, but when I listened to her at the RNC I was disgusted. My instincts told me she is mean and vicious. Most of the time, especially when taking tests people/teachers/professors say "always go with your first instinct". Mine was to turn off the TV and not listen to any more filth that spewed from her mouth. Now that I have seen some reliable and some unreliable articles, God help us if the Repubs win this one. This may be because I am older, but 99% of the staunch Repubs I know ARE racists, anti-gay, anti abortion and I frankly don't want that in my White House anymore. I'm tired of them acting politically correct and doing the opposite of what they say, which is exactly what we will get if we get another set of oil rich Repubs.

people, people!!!stop for a minute and think.LOOK AT THIS GUYS BIO!look at his profile; a little too cliche and informative to be true.definately a concoction of the rovian sector.LOOK WHEN HE STARTED THIS BLOG!!!seriously folks.don't fall victim to the crap.don't let them distract you.pay attention to the issues and ignore the forces that got bush in the white house.they're at work here again with palin.she is, after all, bush with a uterus - or lipstick. you choose.it's the same game - different pawn.FOCUS ON THE IMPORTANT STUFF.

While unnamed sources cast doubts and Sarah Palin's husband is indeed half Eskimo, she has lied enough to not be credible. She says she was against the infamous bridge to nowhere she is on video supporting it and only gave up on it when it became a national joke. She says she's against earmarks, but hired a lobbyist and got 28 million dollars for a town of 7,000. She didn't know what the Bush Doctrine was. It's frightening to think there's a chance of her being a heartbeat from the presidency and a potential tie breaking vote in the senate.

WHAT A JOKE! YOU ARE THE FURTHEST FROM A JOURNALIST AS I AM A MUSLIM!ONLY IF WHAT YOU SAY CAN BE THOROUGHLY DOCUMENTED IT IS OTHERWISE PURE DRIVEL.THIS SO CALLED WAITRESS (IF IN FACT SHE EXISTS) IS NOTHING MORE NOR LESS THAN THE SAME TYPE OF PERSON WHO SUPPORTED THE NAZI'S, COMMUNISTS, AND YES YOU SO CALLED "PROGRESSIVES"! YOU ARE ALL STALINIST, ELITIST, COMMUNISTS, AND THOROUGHLY HATE FREEDOM, AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS. THIS WILL NEVER BE POSTED BECAUSE IT WILL NOT PASS "COMRADE BLOG AUTHOR", WHICH FURTHER SUPPORTS MY CONTENTION, THAT LEFTWING COMMUNIST DICTATORS WILL ONLY ALLOW WHAT THEY WANT MINDLESS ASSES TO BRAY! THINKING FREEDOM LOVING PEOPLES THEY DESPISE. IN CASE YOU IDIOT LEFTWING COMMIES DON'T UNDERSTAND, FREE SPEECH IS EXACTLY THAT FREE SPEECH! NOT SO CALLED "POLITICALLY CORRECT CRAP"!

This posting that supposedly reveals Governor Palin's racism is a HOOT! No sources, except some angry Liberals hoping to injure the Governor's reputation - With your imagination, you really could have done better than this.

I just love reading all these comments as well! You Liberals are TERRIFIED of this woman! Reading the comments exposes all hopes that you can find some trash to actually stick to Governor Palin, but since this "expose`" was first published over a week ago, and still no verification, shows you all for the rabid hate mongers that you truly are.

The ironic thing is, Liberals are the least tolerant, small-minded haters known to man, and I just Love seeing this -

You can't bear that the first woman to hold national office may very well be a Conservative Republican. . .out of the reach of the clutches of NOW and the DNC.

Thank you, Thank you all - watching you foam at the collective mouth, and figuratively shaking in your boots out FEAR of one little Conservative lady just brings a tear to my eye, and a warm glow to my heart!If you'd like to read something else you can really get worked up about, try MY blog:www.cincinnatikids-commense.blogspot.com>

Oh, and MY name is: Michael Davis - an ex-Republican, now Independent Conservative.

If you don't believe his post, or that he is using real quotes from REAL Alaskans... check out http://snopes.com/politics/info/kilkenny.asp

This is a link to the actual letter from Anne Kilkenny that was checked by not only the ppl that he said checked it, but also Snopes checked it by calling her!"

The only thing Snopes confirmed was that a Liberal Hillary Democrat wrote an OPINION piece expressing her dislike for Governor Palin - WHAT A SHOCK!

And, in response to one of the many "Anonymous" posters who said,"Whether or not any of the stuff about Palin is true, she is not qualified enough to be a heartbeat away. That is such a scary thought!"

"Governor" Palin is more qualified to be Vice President than Senator Obama is to be President! Let's not forget, 4 out of the last 5 presidents were governors prior to be elected president.

What you really hate about Governor Palin the most, and what truly scares you is, she Talks the Talk, and She Walks the Walk of a true Conservative -

I just wish she were the Presidential candidate, then I would vote for the Republican ticket.

Whether all the info is true or untrue, watching Sarah Palin being interviewed should convince anyone that she is absolutely not qualified to be President and that this confirms the poor judgment of John McCain, who is very likely to die or become incapacitated in office.

In response to "Anonymous" x 2 - Sarah Palin gives an Excellent interview - She states her answers clearly, and no matter how many time the interviewer subtly changes and re-asks the question, she sticks to her answer . . .

John McCain's mother is 96 YEARS OLD! and looks and acts 20 years younger - McCain has excellent genes. Let's also not forget, if, G-d forbid, Barack Obama dies in office, his replacement, the Plagiarist ( for you Liberals, that means LIAR ) Joe Biden, is 66 years old . . .2nd "Anonymous" responseThe Willy Horton story was TRUE. There was a program in Massachusetts that Governor Michael Dukakis supported, that allowed inmates to get out of prison on weekend furloughs. Willy Horton was serving a LIFE SENTENCE for MURDER. The program, which Dukakis SUPPORTED, let Horton out of prison for the weekend. While he was out of custody, he then committed an ARMED ROBBERY and RAPE.WHERE IS THE LIE? The only liars in THIS campaign are Liberals - and their BIGGEST lies are that the McCain campaign has gone negative, and brought RACE into the campaign - both HAVE been committed by the OBAMA campaign.

And still, I am not going to vote for McCain because he is "Liberal Light" and NOT a Conservative.www.cincinnatikids-commonsense.blogspot.comI am, Michael Davis

WOW! It looks like Rove and the Freepers come here daily! This is the garbage we're against. A bunch of trousered apes, flinging Poo at whomever they dislike. Often because someone is trying to tell them the truth.

This article is fairer towards Palin than the Repugnut party line. What about Troopergate? What about the Bridge to Nowhere? What about the lies, waffles, and accusations that come out of the McCain/Palin camp daily? Any truth to that?

Even being involved in these activities shows an astounding lack of judgement. Not just a lack of good judgement, but an alarming lack of any judgement at all. The saddest thing about the wingnut Right is; They're getting the government they deserve.

I wish they'ed listen to the truth some times and let the rest of us have the government we need.

Oh HE!! yeah! Now someone made a great observation! That is so true! Holy cow, I can't believe I didn't think of that....yeah, there are always so many "news sources" that are making retractions the next day or a week later OR NEVER!!!! Very good!

Average Jane here. Don't know if it's true. Neither does anyone else. No use getting mad about it. No need to retract it--it is, after all, a BLOG post. It's not trash. It's just a report about a woman that most of us don't know from Eve. Not just this post, but EVERYTHING we hear about her is hearsay--good and bad.

Use of our brains is not specific to voting for or against a particular party. Rule nothing out in regard to either side. That's using your brain.

We should all give them poker faces. Make them work for our support. We're easily corralled when so easily read.

Yay! Another good point....well you can tell it's the Rethuglikkkans that get mad. They apparently don't have to check their sources but Dumbocrats are supposed to. You see I poked fun at both parties. Just agree to disagree! However I still think I am more qualified, I am older, better looking, I've had Lasik surgery, don't wear matronly clothes and have volunteered more years than she's held a paying office. Geez, I'm sick of her already! Someone make her go away!

It is strange that all of you doubters come here to support Palin. Why would you even bother to read anything here if you know the info not to be true?

If it were me, I would be on the pro-McPalin sites, so that I could glad hand everything their supporters publish.

What do you know about Palin that would cause you to damn near guarantee that the writer is wrong and just making things up?

It is obvious to a blind man that she is a liar and scheming bitch.

Not one thing that has come out of her mouth thus far can be verified as true.

She sounds like an idiot when she talks about her bridge to no where or her being able to see the Soviet Union from her snow deck thus making her qualified in Foreign Affairs.

It would not surprise me one bit to know that she uses such language in the company of other bigots.

Just because her husband is "part Eskimo" does not mean that she harbors racial feelings. What part of him is Eskimo?

Maybe it is his joy stick which would make her look past the fact that he is "part Eskimo", whatever that is supposed to mean.

In the beginning, everyone attempted to pain her as this Savior. This white woman with the reformist attitude who was going to help take down the "Elitist" black guy who has the nerve to run for president.

Now the truth is coming out from those who know her best and you blind bats refuse to accept to truth.

"There are none so blind as those who refuse to see".

It is called "cutting your nose off to spite your face" when you would prefer a continuation of a miserable life just to keep Obama out of office, no matter how much he might turn this country around.

I doubt that any of you McPain supporters are wealthy, so you would rather be jobless, homeless and penniless as long as you have McPain as your president.

The sad part is that the Republicans know that you are stupid and will vote on anything but the issues. Why else do you think that their MO is all about diversion, division, and all out deliberate lies?

It is because they know that you will believe anything as long as it falls in line with your beliefs and what you want to believe.

Why do you think that country is screwed up so much now? It is because you have fallen for the same joke in 2000, 2004, and every other time that the Republicans wanted your vote and you gladly gave it to them.

You are stuffering now and have been for several years, but I suppose that is beside the point.

Very well put. OMG, did anyone read Ann Coulter's crap in the Sunday papers today???? Wow, I think she and Palin could be sisters! Such filth and crap that comes out of their mouths! She basically insinuated that because our forefathers said in a speech "our unborn children", Coulter took it to a whole new level of stupidity and made that out to be a pro-life statement! OMG, someone, really, make her go away, ok make both of them go away! What idiots and the idiots who believe what they say and write. She accused ALL democrats of being pro-abortion. Umm I think you can be a democrat and not support abortion. Let's leave that between the woman, her conscience and the almighty, if there is one. Such a STUPID comment. I only read her columns to reinforce how I feel about most rethuglikkkans.....Obama, Obama, Obama....I hope he wins by a landslide!!

I'm sorry, but the one thing that clinched it for me NOT to vote for McCain was when he invited this wolf-killing inhumane person on to the ticket. One, it is inhumane to kill wolves from the air (does fish in a barrel ring a bell) and watch them writhe in pain without turning an eyelash. Two, there is some doubt that we ever help ourselves by disturbing nature's balance in the first place, since we kill the young and the strong, and if we left things alone, the old and weak would succumb. Someone who is inhumane enough to think this method of culling wolves is OK is just the kind of person who will have no sympathy for the more unfortunate among us. Throw her back to the salmon pool she flipped out of.

I am an Alaskan and the basic core of the article -- Palin is vindictive, ambitious, mean and Alaskans are reluctant to speak out -- is true. The details you provide, however, do not ring true. In all my years here I've never, not once, heard native Alaskans referred to as "arctic arabs." It's a small state and we all have friends who have friends who work with Sarah and I haven't heard anyone suggest she'd say such a thing. You also undermine your credibility when you refer to Native Alaskans as aboriginals because no one uses that term here, ever. So, because this article contains details that seem highly suspect to me, your main claim -- that Palin called Obama "Sambo," doesn't ring true. Your claim may still be true but your article isn't good enough to make me believe it. Only you know Lucille and know whether she is believable. If it is true, you owe it to America (and the world) to track down Lucille and others at the restaurant that day and prove it. Really. I'd love to see that. I do believe Palin would be a disaster for America. Actually, even proving the "arctic arab" thing would be enough to get her in big trouble here in Alaska (that's assuming she loses in November and is back as our governor).

Good article and I believe every word of it. Just seeing how Palin squirmed and wiggled around different questions in her interviews shows she didn't have a clue and that angry glint in her eye when being confronted shows only a peek of the rage that brews within.

Yeah, I can see why her and McCain hit it off so well...and to think she was just all for Alaska being separate from USA, it's no wonder she knows so little about US policy. She didn't want to know anything.

And from the "Alaskan Independence Party" introduction:

"I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions."Joe Vogler

The video on their website expressly states that Sarah Palin was a supportive member of this organization before taking government office in Alaska. (Her husband is still an active member.)http://www.akip.org/introduction.html

I am glad that inside this machine, there are millions of words being exchanged between people who have become observers of the world that is outside themselves, a world that we only relate to through emotional attachment and that he said, well she said, babble. I am fully aware that the bigger picture is exactly that. A bigger picture, and we look at with a microscope. Lets just turn the machine off, once and for all. And until we do that, we will be played like any other instrument, through our emotions. Love each other and take care, because if you don't, then suffer you will, regardless of who is in that Oval Office.

Unfortunately, this is pretty terrible "journalism". True or not, you've hurt the whole cause by using loaded phrases like "Palin's regime", and bringing yourself and your admitted anger into the story.

Also, the reason The New York Times and The Washington Post can get away with using anonymous sources is because their editors typically know the names of the sources and vouch for their reporters. You, unfortunately, have no such luxury and so you should have gotten names, dropped the story, or alerted someone in the real press.

On the other hand, you've single-handedly made me realize that my Journalism degree really was worth all that time and money after all.

As for the other commentors here, the vast majority of you are completely out of touch with reality and I truly hope the garbage you write on these blog forums never make it into any outlet of consequence.

I just happened to be in Anchorage and Wasilla from CA the day the VP runningmate was announced. It was just as they wrote it. I was in town to promote products and brought up the Palin nomination and stirred up some ill feelings. The shopowner and two other employees told me about how Palin was elected mostly by her church (she was very popular) and brought in Wal Mart and Target. The controversy regards the small businesses that make up the Chamber of Commerce losing business, employess, and services to the big stores. Most residents outside of the small city hall never saw any of the benefits but they do save the 45-minute drive to Anchorage. And lastly, the biggest deal was the hocky rink for Sarah and her close friends. I was told, "our kids skate for free in the winter when everything is frozen solid-for free. Summer is for getting out into the wilderness and being outdoors. Even the hockey kids only want to use the rink sometimes in Summer when they can be hanging out with the other kids."I have not asked permission to use the quote or give names of the Wasilla people but can add they and other Alaskans are a provite poeple. They were told to me when the news was so new and the attention had not set in. The rest of the trip in Anchorage and Juneau was similar though I did find many more Sarah supporters as I got further from her actual offices. She is a talented performer and a product of her American frontier but has no qualifications to be VP or possibly President and should never have been chosen. I remember zealots like her being used to win senate seats in student government in my UF years.

It doesn't surprise me that a waitress heard her comments. Palin doesn't recognize working people as human beings that can read, write or hear, therefore probably didn't even realize the woman was there. She is just another back climbing pol that will do anything to get the vote.

She is a vicious, unintelligent, puppet brought in by the GOP because they thought they would get the "womens" vote............hate to inform them...........there are some intelligent women out there who can see right through that "hockey mom facade".................wonder how many times she actually took her Nascar named children to and from games and practice?! Trig, Track, Bristol, don't even care to know the others names??? I have nothing against Nascar, but c'mon, are you kidding me?????

Its really too bad that everyone is too afraid of Palin's sting to back up their claims. As others have said, I would not be surprised at all if this is true, but without proof it only riles up her supporters... If you could find one person to quote unanonymously, maybe some actual audio or video footage, it could do wonders in unveiling her true character!

Some facts can be verified - $22mill deficit, sports complex,firing the librarian, police chief, commisioner etc.. How much more do we need to know about this woman to realize that she is not qualified in any way?

Thank fucking God someone finally said it. Palin IS a racist and a bigot, I could gather that just by listening to her rants at rallies. She demonizes anyone who is "not like her" and it is something that we as a nation should feel ashamed of even having to hear. Palin is worse than Bush she is so ignorant and acts like a "good old girl" to relate to everyday people but spends $150,000 of the campaign money on her clothes and makeup? Come on guys.....just call it what it is. McCain was behind and picked the hot chick with no brains to back him. It will be a sad day in the USA if those ugly people have control of our beautiful nation.

It's unbelievable how stupid people can be. The fact that this nonsense is reported by a die hard liberal with an agenda is no surprise. The fact that so many people eat it up like it's gospel is disturbing. All the requests for this to be in MSM are comical. If there were a shred of truth to the claims it would be in the MSM. The fact that this daily lifestyle of racism and bigotry cannot be substantiated should clue in a person with an IQ over 70 that maybe it is all just a lie. Every bit of dirt that can be minimally supported is reported about the candidates, regardless of party affiliation. It is sad to read the comments and see how many people refuse to think before they write.

I found this link after a friend emailed it to me.I can't beleive you think Fox News is unfair,at least they have videos and in person interviews to back there stories all you have is here say!!!It sounds to me like your clutching at straws.Your Idoits!!!

To get Obama in the White House and ultimately save the nation and the world, we must destroy this evil Palin woman. Please urge Lucille to come forward and speak to the public regarding Palin's comments. It's important, for the future of all real Americans.

That being said... This is crap. I mean I might hate her but be a bit more diplomatic in how you write your article. Your on the attack and it just makes whatever your trying to get out there to the people of this Nation worthless. Its too abrasive and bias sounding. Every reporter should be writing as unbiasedly as they can so that the people can make up their own minds. I mean look at some of these comments, even the good ones are telling you to clean it up a little bit more.

Take your anger and frustration out of this blog and just fill it with the proven facts and then maybe your message would reach more people.

I hate Palin with all my might and yet somehow you made me think twice. Your writing was so confrontational that I felt like you were lying about the hole thing. No one likes haters. Even if its hate against Sarah Palin who rightly should get it... But hating never gets an effective point across it just makes you look like a child trying to get attention.

Joe the electrician. besides the comments about the way she speaks about people, what about the other facts? She is scary and it is amazing that anyone in america can overlook all the things she has done in her past. If after the last 40 years you cant tell a liar from someone who wants to try and change things for the better than you are the exact kind of person who keeps us from moving forward. the rich will stay rich and the poor will stay poor. there will be no working middle class. Our homes or lossing value, prices are shooting up, and jobs are getting scarce. Its not a fictional plot, it is real and I have only seen it get worse in the last 40 years. All you have to do is open your eyes and let the reality of it sink in. The war is now a total farce. the economy? yah. Mcain and palin = incredible joke. We dont need to prove whats been said or not said. Her record speaks for its self. If you think she doesnt say any of those kind of remarks then your probalby wrong or you are on her side of the fence and dont have the exsprerence to make an inteligent statement on the subject matter. We now have a new chance and that is all. It has always been up to us to do our part and we havent been for a loooong time. you can blame red or blue buts its me and you. Get off the couch and stop trying to blame others. If all the smart people spent as much time trying to help each other as they do trying to get dirt on each other the country would be in much better condition. Thats the only thing we need to worry about. You can bet she says mean things about people but that shouldnt keep us from doing our part or distract from what needs to be done. She is not ready nor will she every be the best choice for vp. Period. nothing else needs to be said or slung about. dont waste your time. My hope is that our new president can encourage us to start doing the right thing and stop waiting for someone to do all the work for us. Good luck to all of us and even to palin.

honestly i believe that obama is all for a change so if people think that the obama campaign is making this up in order for woman to not reach the presidency thats a mistake =. i definetly believe that parts of this article are completely true. sarah palin runs her mouth and everything that comes out is either incoherent, garbage and just unintelligible. i believe she might have said certain racist comments but what makes her not good for position as vp is the fact that she is incredibly unaware and unprepared

This is most certainly a completely fabricated lie. There probably isn't even a person "Lucille" whom you talked to and this most likely never even took place. You probably came up with the name "Lucille" after hearing about Lake Lucille in Wasilla near Palin's home. This just doesn't sound like Palin at all (I live in Alaska and I'm a friend of a friend of her family). You know this never took place you're just a liar. What benefit do you see to creating and spreading lies about people? You're a fool.

Charley James

About Me

If you were born in post-war Milwaukee, you were born a Democrat. So I gravitated naturally to liberal politics, first as journalist and then an activist. I've been writing since I was eight years old and, after working far too long in newsrooms - local newspapers, major market television and radio stations, assistant editor of a major business newsweekly - I've spent much of the past decade as an independent investigtative jouralist. Media outlets have published, cited or quoted me including The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Financial Post, TruthOut, LA Progressive, UK Progressive, TVO, PBS and BBC News. When not covering and writing about politics, I scribble out random thoughts on the peculiarites of modern times.